** PAIN ????? ***

alabama_survivor said:

I had my last radiation

I had my last radiation treatment today, and I've had a tremendous amount of pain just from sore, broken skin.  I had been give Aquaphor with Lidocaine, which they mix special in the office, but I was still having so much pain it hurt to move.  I felt like a real woos when I confessed to the RO that I had been taking hydrocodone leftover from surgery.  He thought it was great that I was taking it, and even wrote me a new prescription when I told him I only had a couple left. 

I had a lot of irritation as the rads treatment went on, but it cleared up as soon as I was done.

Hoping the same for you!

GlowMore said:

Looked up

Finally looked up the TENS Unit thing.........

TENS is an acronym for Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation. Doctors regularly prescribe TENS therapy because it is clinically proven to relieve a range of pains from moderate pain to chronic, persistent pain. TENS is also widely used by physical therapists around the world when treating their patients for various types of pain.

Hi. I have a TENS unit. It has electrode stickers you stick on your sore areas. Up to 4 areas. Different size electrodes. The unit has settings for different body parts & electrode strength settings. The unit sends out electric currents. The theory behind it is that the electric pulses get to your brain before the pain does so you don't notice the pain. It's cumbersome because the box falls off wasteband if pants & gets turned off in pocket. If you wear a dress you have to stick in pantyhose & its hard to change settings or turn back on when it gets turned off. If it worked better for me it may be woth it but it doesn't do that much. If I'm going somewhere I have to sit or walk longer than I can which isn't that long I'll use it.

Some ppeople really do get a lot of back pain relief 

A TENS Unit is for pain relief.  It uses electric impulses to 'disrupt' pain along nerves.  For some, for some pain, it works great.

I've had a TENS Unit for a lot of years for my arthritis in upper back.  It does work great but can be a bit inconvient at times to use.  It uses 4 pads  that you put it n specific sites on each side of my spine.  Then plug them into the unit in an X pattern for negative and positive charge over the spine.  The unit itself is about the size of a CIG. pack and clips to a belt/waistband.  So you have pads with leads to a unit on your belt.  There are adjustments on the Unit for your tolerance of the electrical impulses that you control.  Technically nerves work on electrical and it is designed to interrupt those impulses.

For some at some times it works great but not for all at all times.  Mine did not help at all after wrist surgery but it has at other times.

Winyan - The Power Within

Susan